Exposed
by Kare Uta
Summary: Tala has never liked the way he looked because of his scars but being in a relationship just brings out more of the insecurities and trust issues despite all the comforting. Clearly the two have a lot of things to work on. Tala/OC. Oneshot.


_**Exposed**_

He peeled each and every article of clothing off himself in slow movements, trying not to injure his body further. Turning on the hot water, the cold bathroom quite easily heated up, steam rising and filling the room with a hot fog that touched his skin comfortingly. He sighed, embracing the relaxation for once. He continued to stand under the hot spray, pain spreading through his right arm. He looked down at himself slowly, frustrated by the amount of scars that were so painfully obvious on his skin.

The longest scar he had was right in the middle of his chest, going straight down to his stomach and partially onto his abdomen. Every time he looked at it things only seem like they'd gotten worse than any better. There were so many scars on his arms from defensive wounds too. One was on his collarbone where Boris had decided to drag a blade across it. That one hurt excessively; especially when he was breathing heavily because it was a scar that always felt fresh and like it'd rip open at any time. There was further scarring along his thighs and back too. He had no break, and maybe that's why he felt so nervous with her. How many women really didn't mind that many scars on a guy? He was sure she could only tolerate so much.

She didn't have any serious scars, she just had one and that was it. None at all aside from that and the few emotional wounds which were still fresh. Because she'd rarely seen scars aside from her sole one she often touched his and quite enjoyed it. She'd scan each and every one of them meticulously, brush her nail against the border of it before the soft skin of her finger tip would glide against the supple and increasingly sensitive pale centre of the scar. She'd always whisper sweet words in his ear, telling him that the scars didn't make him look bad like he thought they did. She'd always ask him to tell her the story of a particular scar, whichever she'd chosen for the day, so that for a short amount of time she could just share the pain with him. He denied her the story of a scar on many occasions but he never had the heart to tell her that he never wanted her to know about any of the scars. He didn't want her to pity him, he didn't want her to know that it hurt, he didn't want her to know the methods in which he was beaten because he never wanted her to have to fear anything else.

He bit down hard on his lip to stifle a cry of pain and discomfort as thin arms wrapped around his waist, chin resting in the crook of his neck. Her front lightly pressed itself against his back, kissing his spine tenderly, "How's your arm?" she whispered, hot breathing sending chills through him.

"It's okay." He was obviously lying; he still hadn't stretched his arm, it was bent and with his forearm still pressed to his torso.

His nightmares lately had grown stronger and stronger; he'd punched in his sleep while having rolled over, hitting his elbow against the nightstand which was too close to the bed, just a moment later he'd fallen out of bed and his arm fell between his torso and the floor; since then, moving it had been painful.

She ran her hand along his arm with care, keeping an eye on his face for any signs of discomfort. He tried to hide his face behind his falling hair but it didn't work so well. "I think it's sprained; just second degree though."

"What's that mean?"

She picked up a washcloth from just outside the shower, wetting it while picking up and soap bottle and pouring some out, "First degree is just a minor tear or stretch of a ligament. Second degree is a major tear of a ligament. It's bad but you should be grateful that it wasn't a fourth degree, otherwise you'd need surgery." She rubbed the soap into the cloth, then turning the boy slightly so that she could wash his back, moving the cloth in soft slow circles from side to side, adjusting the pressure pleasurably and keeping in mind his sensitive scars.

Tala could feel his face turning red at the actions that were performed against him. It's not like she hadn't seen him naked before but there was just something so sweet and romantic about this simple gesture that it made being naked around her even more intimidating. She hummed quietly to herself as she continued along his lower back, moving to his arms and being careful with the injured one. With the state of mind that the boy had been in she would've gone to wash the rest of him but opted against it, not wanting to scare him off any further. He stood around in there, trying to avert his gaze as she showered briefly.

They stood on either side of the room while changing. She changed swiftly and with ease, faking adjusting her clothing and numerous pieces of jewelry so as to keep her attention off him. Eventually looking back at him as he struggled to put his t-shirt on. He'd probably managed to bite back the pain when taking the shirt off since that'd hurt less to begin with but now knowing the extent of his injury and the amount of pain he was probably in he wanted to be more careful.

She stepped over to him to help him with the t-shirt, making some progress and with a lot less pain involved. The two parted for a bit from then on. Tala went to lie down on the sofa for a bit; he couldn't even hold a launcher upright even if he wanted to so there was no sense in straining his body further. She went walking around the loft; picking up an old nightgown, a first aid kit, a glass of water and the painkillers.

Watching him deposit two of them into his mouth she handed the glass to him, watching him swallow and taking it back before moving over to sit beside him on the sofa. He watched, interested as she began bandaging his arm with care, placing small packs of a cold liquid in the many layers to help the bruising and swelling to go down. The last thing she did was rip apart the night gown, tying long strands of it together and wrap around his neck and support his arm.

She sat on the end of the sofa when she was done. They stayed in silence for a good hour while Tala was flipping through channels for the majority of that time. Now he was beginning to doze off, the painkillers having worked hard and numbing his pain but also making him drowsy.

The girl moved out of the arm chair and sitting beside his lying form on the sofa. Leaning over a bit, she kissed his cheek, "Let me hold you." She murmured.

"No."

"Please? It'll be okay."

He sat up slightly, weakly holding onto the sofa and she snaked her way into the small space between his back and the arm of the sofa. She rested back, putting a leg on either side of him and pulling him to lie back against her, embracing him and keeping him close.

This happened more often than not; they each had a few troubles on their minds but Tala's had formed into full fledge nightmares, disallowing him to sleep on numerous occasions. Usually while Tala watched TV she'd just get up and try to coerce him into letting her hold him for a while. She knew well-enough that her new lover hated to be touched, ever, because it reminded him too much of the Abbey, its people and how they treated each other. She was determined to change his entire mentality of that though. She wanted to be able to quite freely hold onto him without having to worry about the traffic accident that was going on inside of him and without him having to immediately tense up and remain uncomfortable for the whole time.

Now he was just too exhausted to really fight her off or keep a tense and guarded position. It had been almost a week since he'd slept three straight hours and the exhaustion was quite hurriedly catching up to him. She pressed her lips tenderly to his temple, one hand on his stomach, stroking it gently, while the other did the same in his red hair. "Thanks for this."

"For what?" She murmured, brushing her lips against the shell of his ear.

"The help." He croaked uncomfortably, turning onto his side and trying to make himself more comfortable, listening to the quiet patter of her heart beating.

She smiled, watching him with utmost affection, catching sight of another scar on his hip and brushing her fingers against it, "Thanks for letting me hold you like this. Thanks for at least trying to trust me."

_**A/N: I felt like writing some cute romance lately and there'll probably be some more to come in the near future. I hope some people liked this, I've become quite fond of writing more Tala/OC. Take care everyone!**_


End file.
